Natural Nail Fungus Treatments: Effective Home Remedies

So glad I found this site. I have had toenail fungus for about 8-10 yrs. on my big toe that had spread to some of my other toes. Tried so many things and even went to a Podiatrist but to no avail and then I found yall's site in May 2009. My big toe nail is definitely better but doesn't look as good as the other one. The other 2 are all cured. They weren't as bad. Here's what I did. Mainly followed the advice on here. Mixed 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 peroxide in a little bottle. Mixed 4 parts water to 1 part bleach in another bottle. First applied the vin/per. solution on each nail and let it set for a minute or so and then applied a drop of bleach/water to each nail. I let that dry. I begin to notice a difference in a couple of weeks but then I did have to cut the nail and file it down on top on my big toe to really get the fungus killed. I do this a least twice a day sometimes even 3 times. My nails do look a lot better. I just use distilled vinegar not ACV. And sometimes I do apply a little drop of straight bleach to my big toe and little toe. Thanks again for this site.

I have read all the posts and am trying to rid my fingernails (both thumbs and index fingers) of long term fungal infection. I have used all over the counter remedies, been to my dermatologist who prescribed oral terbinafine for 6 months, which helped a little, but it stopped working when the Dr. stopped the oral med due to possible liver side effects. I make every effort to keep nails clean and dry, trimmed back to apply the topical remedies and still I have off white discolored sections from the end of the nail in half moon shapes toward the matrix of the nail. I clean out the nails with sterile tools but cannot seem to find a cure. Will the Vicks treatment work on fingernails? I read most people had success with toe nails. How do I treat the nails during the work day where I am in an office environment? Help!

Hi Michele,

Have your tried painting with iodine at nail bed and I would also try putting some underneath the nail end where it joins the finger. Once daily should do it and once you get those nails back in shape, don't be putting any nail polish on your healthy nails, not even the clear, strengthening type. Potassium iodide (SSKI or Lugol's solution will also work.

Hope someone can help me out. Since June I've been using one of Ted's remedies for toenail fungus: H202 ACV, let that dry, then Chlorox mixed one cap in 5 oz of water, let dry, then Tea Tree Oil, cover with socks. I already tried 1) Listerine, 2)Listerine & Vinegar, 3) Vicks 4) Tea Tree Oil. I started having some success only after I switched to spraying my toes with 3% H202 and distilled vinegar and upped the amount of Tea Tree oil in my vaseline to more than 50%. As I kept adding more Tea Tree oil, the nails looked better & better. Chlorox got the black streaks out of my toenails. When I occasionally bathe, shower or soak in Borax, the skin around the toes would come off in little sheets with nice new skin underneath. I had a nice line of demarcation where clear white nail was growing in.

But I noticed slight peeling of the skin around the toes when I sprayed the H202 mix.

Well, I suspect I may have made the tea tree solution too strong, because within a couple of days of upping Tea Tree/Vaseline mix, I noticed some painful tiny bubbles around the cuticle of the first & 2nd toes of the right foot. I applied the tea tree oil the next night & morning after spraying my toes and it got worse. I stopped all treatment for a week and did not wear socks to bed, waiting for what I thought was an irritation to cool down. Since I did not want to lose the progress I made, after a week I started using the H202 Vinegar and the tea tree combo again on the left foot only. The skin got irritated and itchy, but the only thing that would stop the itch was the tea tree oil. By this past Tuesday, I was waking up at 3am with the 1st two toes on each foot itching & burning. On Wednesday, I showed my chiropractor the feet to check if any medication I was taking could be causing this; she said she thought it was unrelated, but said when bubbles appear on the toes it was fungus migrating from other parts of the body.

By Thursday morning, I had many more bubbles on my left foot. I went to the movies Thursday afternoon and the foot was driving me crazy -- itchy and tender. When I got home I had a large blister between my 3rd & 4th toes, which I soaked in Espom Salts & Borax, which popped it. I covered the small crater with Aloe & Calendula gel & went to bed. I stayed in on Friday, applied Aloe, which seemed to cool it down. I applied Aloe before I went to work on Saturday morning. By 11 am I could feel lots of tiny blisters forming. When I got home there were lots of tiny blisters on the 1st & 2nd toes of the left foot. I soaked foot in sea salt, which soothed, and applied Aloe, which also soothed. I went out again; when I got home at 8:00pm I had a huge blister between the big toe & 2nd toe. I swear, it looked like a small condom! I soaked it Epsom Salt & Borax, but it would not drain.

I got up this morning, applied salt directly on the blister for 20 minutes, washed it off, bandaged it with Turmeric & Neosporin, then got dressed for church. As I was leaving the blister burst. The skin inside the blister was full of these little bubbles! As of this moment the first two toes are covered with these blisters and there are three more of the big honkers forming as we speak (one on the second toe, two on the big toe.) By the way, I am chugging Turmeric/Cayenne/Pepper/Coconut Oil in V8, and ACV & baking soda, like there's been a run on the market and I can't get any more! I'm also downing Garlic & Olive Leaf. I've lost all the progress I made over the past three months. The big toenail is now yellow and flaky, the toe itself is misshapen from the blisters/infection, and second toe is darkening again.

And all of this happened on my vacation!!! Does anyone have any suggestions? How do I get rid of this? Or at least get this under control. I go back to work on Tuesday; we're not allowed to wear open toed shoes!

soak your toes in peroxide, fill a bowl up and soak your toes in it.

You might have some sort of defficiency. If you don't eat lots of meat then it could be B6 and B12 defficiency. I would not suggest eating meat but up your B6 and B12 levels through supplements. Check your zinc, magnesium, vitamin D levels. 70% population is defficient in Vitamin D. I would suggest having juice of green leafy vegetables everyday. Dino

After my immune system was lowered during recovery from surgery, a fungal infection took off in my big toenail. It started as a white mark and progressed into a nasty condition very quickly. I went to a foot doctor and he thought it was not recoverable and was getting ready to do some surgery. However, I opted first to try the medicated nail varnish. This didn't seem to do very much, so in addition to filing the surface of the nail to make it thinner and using the penlac, I started adding a few drops of lavendar oil on a fabric bandaid and would place this on my toenail every day. Very soon I could clearly see new nail starting to grow. This cured the problem! It took a long time, but the bandaid with lavendar oil was quick to do in the morning, and after the months it took for the nail to grow out, it worked and I now have a healthy toenail again :)

well my case is defintley one of desperation, i believe it started off with me hitting my toe [big toe]it had swollen up and after a few days it came back to normal then, after a few weeks this little end of dicoloured nail appeared i took no heed to it and 5-6months later i still have it but it has nearly taken over half my nail it is yellowish white my nails always tend to go extremely fast so it keeps growing out pinkish but gets reinfected as the fungus travels down to the new nail. my remidies were boric acid and vaseline,then 2nail fungus removers one which was fungi cure this one worked a little but the fungus is still here and constantly for 2months now teat ree oil, it absoulutly did nothing ,it has been so difficult for me i dont ever wear nail polish but just to hide it i started, my mom told me to stop it because it may make it worse so today it was confirmed that it does make it worse.i will now try some of your methods the clorox tea tree oil thing and see what happens then i will try the ACV the results seem promising i will also keep the site of my updates, thank you

I read that olive leaf extract cured toenail fungus. My mom is taking it for the same thing because the prescription medicine doesn't seem to be working. It's too early to say if it is working, but it's worth a shot.

I have had a fungus in my second toe on my right foot for over five years. Of course like everyone else, I didn't know what it was at first. The toe nail is slightly dark near the tip and the nail is thick, dry and hard to clip. I have tried a number of things but nothing works completely. I use a natural remedy Peppermint and Shea Butter which seems to help the toe to look pretty health. I know it is still there because my toe is in so much pain when I walk continuously. I generally walk three miles each day; my toe has started to hurt so much more, to the point that I have cut back to just two miles a day. Am I the only one with pain or is it that people are just neglecting to mention it. I am very anxious to try the remedies found here, as soon as possible. My question is why is it that no one has mentioned the pain that occurs in the toe when walking? I have not tried any of the remedies here; will they help the pain as well? I will let you know what my outcome is.

Hi! I have NO good new for you yet. I just wanted you to know that I am suffering the toe pain as well as you are and I'm sure there are others. I am trying a little combination as I am writing this. I did one cup of White Vinegar to 3 cups of water and thought I'm going to add 1/2 cup of the apple cider vinegar and one more cup of water and I am soaking both feet. I have had problems with both my big toes with the discoloration, thick ugly nails that are very hard to trim and since they have thickened...they have been giving me problems by curving inward and getting very hard to manicure not saying how the pain is really getting unbearable. I hope we both get relief and nice looking toes again.

WORKED TEMPORARILY

I recently made a discovery that made me think my nail fungus had improved by 80% overnight! I'd been rubbing clove oil on one of my big toe nails for a couple of weeks. Then one night I decided to add coconut oil an hour after applying the clove oil. The next morning it looked as though the fungus had all but disappeared. I was thrilled! But, ha ha, it was temporary. As soon as your feet get wet, the nail returns to its previous state. I switched to shea butter (100%, cheap) because it lasts even longer than the coconut oil (from shower to shower). Not sure how effective this will be for black-ish nail fungus as mine is a lovely white & yellowish swirl.

So for everyone who is currently wearing open-toed sandals this summer, you might want to try rubbing coconut or shea butter to your infected nails. It's a helpful tool while we battle this pain-in-the-you-know-what condition.

Hi Ted,

I appreciate the time you take to offer so much information on how to cure ailments naturally. I've had toenail fungus for many years and have spent tons of money and still can't get rid of it! I gave your formula of ACV with peroxide, followed by clorox and then tea tree oil mixture and did it for about a month and my toenails are still the same! Also, the tea tree oil burns my skin and it peals all around my nail, which makes my toes look really gross! I want to give the alkalizing a try too see if that helps. I feel I have internal fungus (candida) and that's why I can't get rid off this, because I also have seborrheic dermititis and scalp problems.

Is there something you suggest I should do?

Thanks, Carol

My husband has had toenail fungus for about 6yrs. I started looking up home remedies and heard about tea tree oil, bleach, vics, vinegar, and so on. We tried them individually with ok results. One night we decided to try a combination to see what happens. We put a drop of bleach followed by a drop of tree oil then vics. We covered the feet with socks and he slept with it on. He said it burned some, but not too bad. I have to say, we have gotten the best results by doing this. Every day the area we put it on has turned an orange color and is now soft and comes right off. I have experimented some to see if it's just the bleach and vics or tree oil and vics and so on, but nothing gives results like the combination of the 3. I am recently seeing sights using ACV and I think I'm going to try that too. It seems people are having very good results with that as well. I'll post again in a couple weeks with my results. We have been using this treatment for about a month so far. Good luck with whatever treatment you use.

What is ACV

Does anybody know about the effectiveness of grapefruit seed extract for nail fungus? I have used it for a couple of years. It did seem to slow the fungus but not get rid of it. Now I apply it during the day after soaking my toes in ACV (see my previous post).

having some success, for toenail fungus, soaking an hour in cornmeal and warm water. Exact directions are:

line bottom of flat plastic pan with cornmeal one inch and add 1 inch warm water for one half hour, then add enuf warm water to cover your toenails and put your feet in for one hour. Do this once a week. Results in about a year.

Faster, comprehensive solutions will involve eating totally alkaline. Am also trying MMS topically plus DMSO with questionable results. Tried MMS internally 15 drops, 3x per day for 2 weeks as prescribed and have overal improvement in health but uncertain it affected toenails just yet.

Richard

To the OP or the broader community:

1 — What does MMS stand for?

2 — What is “eating totally alkaline “?

Fungus and Cancer:

I've used baking soda and maple syrup to cure fungus that I had on my big toe. In a matter of 3 days of taking one batch of this every day I saw the difference.

What I did, in a small pot I put 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 3 tsp of maple syrup I heated it up on medium (setting at 5) then reduced to 3 to allow it to boil for 5 minutes in all. Do not try to double the recipe otherwise you take away the effectiveness. Before it cools down too much I transfer onto a sandwich bag (not sure if this is wise, but that's what I've used so far) and I've put it in the freezer for about 3 to 4 minutes to let it cool and once cooled it comes off the plastic very easily, now don't let it sit in freezer too long otherwise it'll get real hard. Check it often and when it comes off then its ready to make into small pieces, I find its like making toffee, I twist it so that it looks equal lengthtwise and then take the scissors and cut into small sizes, once that is done I then take half of what I've cut and swallow them down with water. Some have eaten it straight from the pot I can't handle the taste and it seems to work just as well.

I learned this at another site and was wanting to share it since I've gained so much more from this site. APPARENTLY, HEATING it is VERY important. the molecules of the salts and sugars must be bonded by heat. THE FUNGUS OR CANCER loves the sugars of the syrup but then the attached sodium bicarbonate is A LETHAL TROJAN HORSE. I didn't use this for cancer but this information was given along with the fungus.

I just tried making a batch of this. I didn't have a real small pot and figured 4 tsp is really not very much so I tried to make it in a metal measuring cup (1/2 cup). I couldn't cook it the five minutes because it foamed up so high I had to take it off the burner. What a hoot! Next time I'll try it in the full cup or buy a really small pot. It's in the freezer now. Hopefully it will come out o.k.

Hi Whisper From Timmins,

I did this recipe to the T for 5 days and still did not notice a difference, and by no means cured. Did your nail fungus get cured after 3 days or did you just notice a difference? At this point I have to give your remedy a big nay. I also remember Janice from Coloma was doing this recipe as well, I would like to hear back from her on this as well, Peace, Rena.

In response to Janice from Coloma, please do not double or try to alter the recipe, its simply 1tsp to 3tsp of Maple Syrup, you start at low heat which is a 6 on the dials after it comes to a boil which would be about 2 minutes reduce it to 3 and keep on stirring, caramel brown would be the color once done. Do NOT leave in freezer too long otherwise your going to make it hard as rock.

I currently have two friends who are trying it out, one has been on this for three days now and we are now seeing little dark dots on her planters wart.

Another has sebaceous cyst on his head, he's double the dosage, taking one recipe in the morning and one at night, it being his first day of using this he says "the cysts on my head didn't hurt today" his head was hurting so we'll see what happens in a few days. I'll keep you posted on results of the two people.

Response to Rena, my fungus dried up in three days a noticeable difference could be seen.

Hi, I just wanted to know do you think this treatment would also work for candida?

I wonder if blackstrap molasses would work as well as maple syrup as a trojan horse for the baking soda? For one thing, it is way cheaper than maple syrup (anyone notice how the price almost doubled last year when there was a supposed poor yield, but have not come back down at all??), but also this method of heating and allowing to cool and harden and then cutting off a piece in solid form might make the taking of BSM on a daily basis easier for those of us who really have a hard time taking the stuff in liquid form.

Is there any reason why the BSM might prove a less effective trojan horse in which to conceal the baking soda than the maple syrup?

Would the nutrients in the BSM be adversely affected by bringing the BSM to a boil in the manner described?

Thanks!

Sim

For the dyshidrosis skin infection - I fought this for almost a year thinking it was just eczema... In the end what took care of it, in about a week's time, was Absorbine Jr and Tinactin. Great combo for dyshidrosis

I want to give my so far so good story on my remedy for toe nail fungus. I did what was reccomended.I used the Distilled Viniger and Hdrogen proxide mix (soaking my toes for 5 min.) Then I dry them off and soak my toes in a 10% / 90 % bleach and H2O mix. Then the tea tree oil.vasoline mix.

I have done this for 4 days now at night before bed. I have seen my pinky toe harden and color slowly start to come back. I have noticed my cutical bed recend, and I am noticing a new nail forming under my old very soft malformed nail. I am so glad I found this site!

I have to confess I mis read the directions and for the first two days I was using a baking soda viniger mix, I think that was helping as well.

FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, NAIL IS DEAD TISSUE. IF YOU WANT TO GET TO THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM, IT MUST DONE INTERNALLY. PILLS BY PRESCRIPTION FROM YOUR DR. VICKS MIGHT KILL THE PRESENT NAIL BUT THE FUNGUS IS STILL IN YOUR SYSTEM. AGAIN, THIS IS MY OPINION.

I had been trying multiple remedies but I only seemed to be keeping the fungus at bay rather than actually killing it completly. Then I added vicks to my other remedies and slowly stopped all other remedies except for the vicks and my two infected nails are doing great. Also I had the fungus for almost 6 years on one nail and about 18 months on the other. I read somewhere that it is the thymol that makes it so effective, don't know if its true. Good luck everyone!!

I tried a product similar to Vicks called Raleigh Salve. It has been around my whole life, and I figured it would work the same as Vicks, and it does. I had a fungus on a small section of my big toe, and I started using it twice a day. Within one day I could see a difference in it. It looks like it is repairing my toe nail from the inside out. It almost looks completely normal. Thank you for the information.

My BF who has been neglecting the toe nail fungus for a couple of years has finally come to the realization that it's not only affecting his toes but possibly his health as well. I read all the posts of others' experiences then went to the natural health store. After a lengthy discussion with the store assistant (who had experienced a mild case of toe nail fungus herself), I bought the following based on her recommendation and the posts I read. My BF started the treatment yesterday:

Probiotics - 1 capsule 2 x/day with meals to re-balance the body's intestinal flora
silica gel - 1 Tbsp per day to strengthen the new nails to come (BF has v. brittle, thin nails)
ACV - sipping approx 2 tsp in 1 lg glass water 3x per day

I have also told BF he needs to cut out the sugars, acidic foods as much as possible. Our diet is pretty healthy, but with the fungus, I think it wouldn't hurt to be more mindful.
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Soak feet 2x per day (morning and night) in hot water bath for 10 mins and wash w/ natural anti-bacterial soap. Dry feet and apply cotton pad soaked w/ 50/50 ACV & hydrogen peroxide. Remove after 15 mins. and apply iodine drops and then neem oil (I was told it's stronger than tea tree). We're going to change the procedure in the evening and tape a cotton soaked pad w/ the 50/50 ACV & hydrogen peroxide on the toes overnight.

There was no pinching or fizzing the first night the ACV/hydrogen peroxide was applied as a few people mentioned in their posts.

The ACV used was not _____'s but an unpasteurized, unfiltered one from a local Ontario apple orchard.

Will report back on the results in a week.

Did you get results? Would like to know what happened.

I've been trying Ted's remedy for fingernail fungus for over a week and the fungus is still spreading on that nail. If this is going to work, how soon should I see progress? Any other suggestions? Should I clip away the detached fingernail?

Thanks,
Lisa

how to avoid touching the skin???!!!!